Team-Report

ÖFB team starts EURO countdown in Marbella

As in 2022, Gregoritsch and Co. will train in Marbella.(Bild: GEPA pictures)

Austria's soccer team starts the EURO year today - first training session in Marbella.For some players it started very, very early.

The "Krone" reports from Marbella

Kick-off, as they say in soccer parlance. At 6 p.m. today in Marbella on the Spanish Costa del Sol, Ralf Rangnick's first whistle sounded as the team boss called the Austrian national team to their first training session of this EURO year.

26 players are taking part in the camp, all of them had to arrive at the team quarters in the hotel "The Westin La Quinta Golf Resort & Spa" by 2 pm after traveling individually. For some, this meant waking up at dawn - the only direct flight from Vienna to Malaga (around 60 km from Marbella) departed at six o'clock in the morning - which meant getting up at 3.30 am and leaving for Schwechat Airport at 4 am ...

They were greeted with the traditional "Welcome back" video, trained at the Marbella Football Center, which some of them know from winter camps with their clubs, and around half of the squad had already been there in November 2022 when they prepared for the test clash against Italy in the south of Spain - which they won 2:0. One of the goalscorers from back then, Xaver Schlager, is there, the other, David Alaba, unfortunately not due to injury.

Xaver Schlager (right) and Michael Gregoritsch(Bild: GEPA pictures)

"Does the soul good"
What can the players expect in the coming days? Not just nice weather with temperatures of up to 25 degrees (Rangnick: "That's also one of the reasons why we chose this location, it's simply good for the boys' souls to train in really good conditions at this time of year"), not just a few advertising shoots at the beginning - "first and foremost, of course, it's about the most important tactical content of our game. We'll go over the basics again," said Rangnick.

Conclusion with two tests
He then wants to use as many of the players called up as possible in the tests against Slovakia (Bratislava, March 23, 6 p.m.) and Turkey (Happel Stadium, March 26, 8.45 p.m.). Alaba will have to be replaced, as will Marko Arnautovic and Sasa Kalajdzic.